Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Plastics: Recycling

Scott Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what funding is available for research and development on energy extraction from recycling plastic.

Claire Perry: The BEIS Energy Entrepreneurs Fund recently ran a funding call to which such technologies could apply if they could demonstrate that they boosted the UK’s energy security, lowered carbon emissions, or improved energy efficiency. Other Government programmes for which such technologies could be eligible include those operated by Innovate UK including the Energy Catalyst and the “Open” Innovation call. Innovate UK typically run two calls a year under these programmes. An example of a company currently supported by Government who recycles end of life plastics into heavy fuel oil and other high value products is Recycling Technologies, based in Swindon.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Egypt: Religious Freedom

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his counterpart in the Egyptian Government on the arrest of 25 Ahmadi Muslims in Egypt on the grounds of their religion; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: I refer the Honourable Member for Mitcham and Morden to my answer to her earlier PQ on this matter (121319) on 15 January. We will continue to raise our concerns around the discrimination of religious minorities in Egypt. This includes concerns over the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly in Egypt. These rights are essential to improving the protection of Freedom of Religious Belief in Egypt.

Germany: Antisemitism

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department have had with their German counterparts on antisemitism and on implementing the conclusions of the recent report by the Second Independent Expert Group on Antisemitism.

Sir Alan Duncan: In October 2017, Foreign and Commonwealth officials attended a briefing given by the authors of the report commissioned by the German parliament on Antisemitism. On 18 January, the German parliament voted to establish the position of Antisemitism Commissioner, which is the first recommendation of the report. We continue to cooperate with Germany in international work to combat antisemitism.

Burma: Rohingya

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Bangladesh and Myanmar  counterparts as a result of the deal by those Governments to repatriate Rohingya refugees.

Mark Field: The Government has been clear throughout the current crisis that the Rohingya refugees who have fled into Bangladesh must be able to return to their homes in Burma safely, voluntarily and in dignity. The UK proposed and secured a UN Security Council Presidential Statement on 6 November which called for these conditions to be met and urged the Governments of Burma and Bangladesh to invite the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to participate fully in the implementation of any returns process.Since Burma and Bangladesh signed an agreement to repatriate refugees on 23 November, the UK has made representations to both governments to implement the agreement in line with the UN Security Council Statement. The Minister for Asia and the Pacific raised the issue with Bangladesh's State Minister for Foreign Affairs on 30 November 2017 and with its High Commissioner on 9 January,The British Ambassador to Burma most recently pressed for UNHCR involvement in the repatriation process in his meeting with the Minister for the Office of the State Counsellor on 11 January.We share the UN High Commissioner for Refugee's concerns regarding the risk of premature or precipitous returns, and assessment that conditions in Rakhine are not presently in place to enable safe and sustainable returns.The UK will continue to work with our international partners to ensure any returns take place in line with international norms and under international monitoring.

Department for International Development

Ross Fund

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much of the Ross Fund her Department has spent on tackling  (a) tuberculosis, (b) malaria and (c) HIV/AIDS since that fund was established.

Alistair Burt: Details of DFID funding to 31 December 2017, under the Ross Fund portfolio, to tackle tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS, are outlined below: Tuberculosis: £16.25 millionMalaria: £32.13 millionHIV/AIDS: £10.2 million

Developing Countries: Minority Groups

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if her Department will make an assessment of whether its aid delivered through UN agencies is reaching religious minorities.

Harriett Baldwin: Our humanitarian aid operates under International Humanitarian Law and is provided based on need. As such it is available to people of all faiths and of none. All our partners carry out comprehensive vulnerability assessments to ensure aid is reaching those most in need, including those from religious minorities as it is already recognised that religion may be a factor in causing vulnerability.We keep this under close review. For example, we will take on board the outcomes of a roundtable between UNHCR, local faith leaders and faith-based NGOs which was convened in Amman, Jordan by our Embassy officials on 23 January. This forum discussed UNHCR’s systems for ensuring impartiality and assessing vulnerability and protection needs (including resettlement opportunities) for refugee groups of all faiths.

Developing Countries: Private Finance Initiative

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many PFI projects her Department is funding through its international development aid budget; and what those projects are.

Alistair Burt: The UN estimates there is a major financing gap of around $2.5 trillion p.a. for developing countries in delivering the Sustainable Development Goals which will need to be met by the public and private sector. The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is specific to the UK context, and used as the primary model of Public Private Partnerships in the UK. There is no internationally agreed definition of either a PFI or a PPP. However, DFID supports developing countries in many ways to mobilise private finance, including through forms of Public-Private Partnerships. This is unlikely to include UK style PFI projects. DFID’s approach mobilises much needed private investment in infrastructure and other sectors where private sector activity is limited. This includes projects financed through CDC, the World Bank Group, the regional development banks and the Private Infrastructure Development Group. In some of these investments the government of the developing country will be the end purchaser of the services. In all our work DFID has a strong emphasis on value for money.The Public-Private Partnerships that DFID supports play an important role in providing access to services that might otherwise not exist in those countries. In the absence of this type of support, developing country governments would need to raise capital in debt markets to meet the costs of these essential investments.[Details on the range of Public-Private Partnership projects that DFID supports can be found on the following websites: https://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/; http://www.cdcgroup.com/; http://www.worldbank.org/; https://www.afdb.org/en/; https://www.adb.org/; https://www.aiib.org/en/index.html; https://www.iadb.org/en; http://www.caribank.org/; http://www.ebrd.com/; http://www.eib.org/; http://www.pidg.org/ and http://data.pidg.org/]

Department for International Development: Former Members

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many former Conservative Members of Parliament who were defeated at the 2017 general election and who now work in her Department were appointed after a publicly advertised and open recruitment process.

Harriett Baldwin: DFID does not employ any former Conservative Members of Parliament defeated at the General Election 2017.

Department for International Development: Beverage Containers

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many disposable coffee cups were purchased by her Department in each of the last five years.

Harriett Baldwin: We are unable to provide purchasing data prior to 2017. In 2017 DFID London purchased approximately 4,300 ‘Vegware’ cups every month. Made from plant material – not plastic – these cups are organic, compostable and can be recycled with the food waste. In 2017 DFID Scotland took delivery of approximately 3,000 card and plastic cups. There are schemes in both DFID offices to encourage use of reusable coffee cups, with 10% off the price of a coffee when staff use their own cup. In DFID Scotland reusable cups are available for purchase, with the aim of bringing down the number of disposable coffee cups used.

Department for Education

Pupils: Health

Sandy Martin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to raise awareness of schools of their duty to protect and enable pupils with medical conditions.

Sandy Martin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to require all maintained schools to have a medical conditions policy and to display such a policy publicly on their school website; and if he will make statement.

Nadhim Zahawi: The government recognises the importance of supporting pupils at school with medical conditions. Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 introduced a duty that requires governing boards to make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions. Most schools manage these issues well and take their responsibilities towards pupils with such conditions seriously, making sure that the medical needs of their pupils are being met.The department works with organisations such as the Health Conditions in Schools Alliance to raise awareness of the duty, and recently promoted it through the department’s social media channels.Governing boards should ensure that schools develop a policy for supporting pupils with medical conditions that is reviewed regularly and is readily accessible to parents and school staff. We keep the guidance under review, including in the context of school awareness, and the role it plays in securing accessibility of school policies.This guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.

Special Educational Needs

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with (a) the Department for Health, (b) school leaders, (c) teaching unions and (d) other professional bodies on the conclusion of the Ofsted Care Quality Commission report, C Report, Local area SEND inspections: one year on, regarding the adequacy of the knowledge and skills of school staff to identify accurately children and young people that need further assessments.

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to implement the recommendations of the Ofsted Care Quality Commission report, Local area SEND inspections: one year on, published in October 2017, on commissioning of health services for young people up to the age of 25.

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to meet the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to discuss the recommendations of the Ofsted Care Quality Commission Report, Local area SEND inspections: one year on, published in October 2017.

Nadhim Zahawi: Ministers from the Department for Education (DfE) have written to all local authorities and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) whose areas have been inspected under the Ofsted/Care Quality Commission (CQC) Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) inspection framework; and have written again, after 12 months, to those areas identified by the inspections as having significant weaknesses. These letters follow up the key points raised in the inspection reports, a summary of which is reflected in the one year on report. The government has provided, since April 2014, over £300 million to support local authorities, working with their partners, including health and schools, to implement the SEND reforms; and we are in the process of procuring further support for 2018-2020. We have funded training and a SEND leadership programme to support local authorities and health services to deliver their SEND services, which included training on joint commissioning. To improve the knowledge and skills of school staff on good SEND practice we have funded a school improvement programme. This includes a ‘what works’ resource, drawing on evidence-based practice on SEND in good and outstanding schools and colleges. Where local area performance, such as the commissioning of services, is a particular concern, officials from the DfE working closely with partners, including Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, have engaged with local areas to provide support and challenge, and have seen a proactive and positive response.

Universities: Hate Crime

Paul Masterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many instances of (a) antisemitism, (b) homophobia and (c) islamophobia on university campuses have been reported to his Department in each of the past 12 months.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Department for Education does not hold this information, however my department and this government takes all forms of hate crime extremely seriously. There is no place in our society – including within higher education – for hatred or any form of harassment, discrimination or racism. In September 2015, the government asked Universities UK (UUK) to set up a Harassment Taskforce to consider what more can be done to address harassment and hate crime on campus. The taskforce’s report, ‘Changing the Culture’, published in October 2016, recommended a zero-tolerance approach to harassment and hate crime. On 27 July 2017 UUK published a directory of case studies detailing the innovative projects universities have developed to address the taskforce’s recommendations. These include Goldsmith’s hate crime reporting centre (case study 11) which is a joint initiative with the local authority in Lewisham and the Metropolitan Police, which provides students and staff with a safe space to report incidents. These are published on UUK’s website: http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Pages/changing-the-culture-case-studies.aspx. In addition, the Higher Education Funding Council for England has provided £1.8 million for projects to improve responses to hate crime and online harassment on campus. The Higher Education Funding Council for England is currently working with UUK to test the sector’s response to the taskforce’s recommendations and the full results will be published in spring 2018.

Pre-school Education: Hearing Impairment

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether local authorities can use the Special Provision Capital Fund to purchase radio aids for use by pre-school age deaf children.

Nadhim Zahawi: The government has committed £215 million of capital funding to help local authorities create new school places and improve existing facilities for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, in consultation with parents and providers. The funding is not intended for individual equipment, however this capital is not ring-fenced and local authorities can use it as they see fit to improve special provision for children and young people with education, health and care (EHC) plans.The government has a range of funding available for local authorities to support early years providers and families of children with special educational needs and disabilities. This includes high needs funding, which can be spent on services for children under compulsory school age, regardless of whether they have an EHC plan.

Free School Meals: Hartlepool

Mike Hill: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in Hartlepool were eligible for free school meals before the introduction of universal credit.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department does not differentiate between pupils eligible for free school meals under the pre-Universal Credit free school meals system and those that have become eligible since Universal Credit has been introduced. The number of pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals is published in the file “Underlying data: SFR28/2017” in the annual ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ statistical release. For 2017, the information is available at:www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2017. Information for earlier years is available at:www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-and-pupil-numbers.

Children: Day Care

Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average weekly cost was of a childcare place in (a) the Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London in each year since 2010.

Nadhim Zahawi: The department collects data on the weekly regional cost of childcare through our regular parent surveys. These can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-childcare-and-early-years.

Trimega

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of the 18 December 2017 to Question 118871, whether any local authorities have informed his Department that they commissioned forensic hair strand tests for drug and alcohol use from Trimega Laboratories Limited (Trimega) during the period January 2010 to April 2014.

Nadhim Zahawi: A number of local authorities have informed the department that they commissioned forensic hair strand tests for drug and alcohol use from Trimega Laboratories Limited (Trimega) during the period January 2010 to April 2014. We continue to work with local authorities to establish the extent to which they used Trimega during this period.

STEM Subjects

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to encourage young people to pursue STEM subjects at school, college and university.

Nick Gibb: The Government is committed to tackling our shortage of STEM skills so we can grow the workforce that a dynamic and growing economy continues to require. The Department is doing this by investing £406 million to increase pupil participation in maths, digital and technical education. This includes a new post-16 maths premium and a new £84 million programme to improve the teaching of computing – both of which should encourage increased take-up of these subjects. The Department has committed to improving STEM careers advice in schools in the recently published Careers Strategy. The Department is also widening the pool of young people that consider engineering as a career through the Year of Engineering campaign, which will showcase the variety and creativity of modern engineering. To improve the development of technical STEM skills, the Department is introducing T levels, which will be developed with employers, and provide progression opportunities into skilled work or higher level study, including degrees.

STEM Subjects: Higher Education

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate the Government has made of the number of students studying STEM courses at undergraduate level.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes statistics on students studying at UK Higher Education Institutions. The latest statistics refer to the academic year 2016/17 and can be found at the following link: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/11-01-2018/sfr247-higher-education-student-statistics. In 2016/17, there were 826,260 enrolments on undergraduate courses in STEM subjects. Of these, 742,485 students were studying for a first degree, and a further 83,775 were studying for another undergraduate qualification. The number of undergraduates in STEM subjects increased by 1.4% between 2015/16 and 2016/17. NotesCounts are on the basis of full-person-equivalents. Where a student is studying more than one subject, they are apportioned between the subjects that make up their course;STEM subjects are defined by HESA as subject groups A to K under the JACS3 classification: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/documentation/jacs/jacs3-detailed;Figures rounded to nearest five.

Ministry of Justice

Employment Tribunals Service: East of England

Mohammad Yasin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 29 November 2017 to Question 115593, on Employment Tribunals Service: Eastern Region, how many lay members there were in (a) the Eastern Region and (b) Bedford in each year from 2012 to 2017.

Lucy Frazer: The information regarding lay members is held on a local live database known as “Ethos”, which holds no historic data. It is therefore not possible to provide data from 2012 to 2017.There are currently 110 lay members for the South East Region, of which 42 are assigned to the eastern part of the Region (which comprises Norwich, Cambridge and Bury St Edmunds Employment Tribunals). Whilst lay members do have an assigned home base Employment Tribunal, they can be deployed elsewhere across the South East Region subject to their agreement.

Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2017 to Question 64306, on Legal costs, whether the review of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 will include a public consultation.

Lucy Frazer: The former Lord Chancellor previously announced the beginning of a Post-Implementation Review of the legal aid changes made by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO).As the former Lord Chancellor stated we are keen to hear from a range of interested parties and experts as part of the review process. I am currently considering the most effective approach.

Courts: ICT

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish the plan which PwC has been contracted by his Department to deliver in respect of the digital courts reform programme.

Lucy Frazer: The contract awarded to PwC includes their plans to deliver against the 6 initial work packages. A redacted version will be published on Contracts Finder which will provide further details, by the end of January. Throughout the life of the contract, agreed delivery plans will be submitted for each new work package commissioned.

Prisons: Drugs

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the levels of (a) availability and (b) use of psychoactive substances in prisons in each of the last three years.

Rory Stewart: We take a zero-tolerance approach to drugs in our prisons. Anyone found with contraband will be subject to disciplinary action and police investigation. We are taking unprecedented action to stop the supply and use of drugs. This is based on a multi-agency approach working closely with health partners and law enforcement agencies. We are the first prison jurisdiction in the world to have developed a test for psychoactive substances and have over 300 dogs to detect psychoactive substances. We have invested £3m in enhancing our intelligence capability to identify the organised crime groups and individuals behind supply routes, and are using this intelligence to work with the police to disrupt them Data on the number of finds of Psychoactive Substances has been recorded on the HMPPS Incident Reporting system since October 2015, so whole year data is only available for 2016 and 2017. Testing for psychoactive substances was only in place across the whole prison estate from September 2016 onwards. Figures for 2017/18 will be published in the Annual HMPPS Digest in July 2018.

Coroners

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what representations his Department has received on the comments of Mary Hassell, a North London Coroner, who has maintained a policy that no body will be prioritised for release and burial because of the religion of the deceased or their family.

Dr Phillip Lee: Coroners are independent judicial office holders. As such, it would be inappropriate for Ministers to comment on the reported actions of the Inner North London Senior Coroner. The Department has received a number of representations, including from the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the London Borough of Camden which funds the Inner North London Coroner Service.

Legal Ombudsman

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which authority oversees the work of the Legal Ombudsman.

Lucy Frazer: Part 6 of the Legal Services Act (2007) establishes the Office for Legal Complaints (OLC), which administers the Legal Ombudsman Scheme. It is overseen by the Legal Services Board, established by the same Act, and the Ministry of Justice as its sponsor Department.

Liverpool Prison

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions his Department has had with the Prison Officers Association and other staff representatives on the future of HMP Liverpool.

Rory Stewart: The POA have been engaged locally by the new Governor of HMP Liverpool, on the issues raised by the inspectorate. The Governor is committed to ongoing engagement as improvement plans are implemented.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Private Rented Housing: Standards

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many homes in the private rented sector have not met the decent homes standard in (a) Tower Hamlets, (b) London and (c) UK in each of the last five years.

Dominic Raab: The Department's English Housing Survey assesses the extent to which private rented sector homes in England meet the Decent Homes Standard. 2015 is the latest year for which data on the per cent of homes in the private rented sector which did not meet the Decent Homes Standard is available. Data for the preceding five years are published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-housing-survey-2015-to-2016-headline-report  The Department does not publish data on non-decent homes in London, and the survey is not designed to produce local authority estimates.

Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence: Cost Effectiveness

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons his Department has initiated an invitation to tender for an Efficiency Assurance Review for additional external and independent assurance of his Department's revised efficiency plan within his Department’s financial forecast.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We are making good progress towards our efficiency targets, and are confident of meeting our objectives. This work will help provide assurance that our current plans are robust.

Ministry of Defence: Procurement

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will estimate the value of efficiencies created by the operation of the Single Source Contract Regulations 2014 to date.

Guto Bebb: The Ministry of Defence calculates that by July 2017 the Single Source Contract Regulations had achieved reductions in contract prices of £313 million.

Armed Forces: Body Armour

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which units have received Virtus body armour since February 2017.

Guto Bebb: Since February 2017 the following units, or sub units within them, have been issued Virtus body armour. Issue of the body armour is decided, based on operational need; this means not all sub units within a unit will be issued it, and some units will be required to hand it back on return from operations.  Royal Navy1 Assault Group Royal Marines30 Commando (Information Exploitation Group) Royal Marines43 Commando (Fleet Protection Group) Royal Marines45 Commando Royal MarinesCommando Helicopter ForceCommando Training Centre Royal Marines British Army1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery1st Queens Dragoon GuardsThe Royal Dragoon GuardsThe Queens Royal HussarsThe Royal LancersThe Light DragoonsThe Kings Royal Hussars22nd Engineer Regiment Corps of Royal Engineers26th Engineer Regiment Corps of Royal Engineers32nd Engineer Regiment Corps of Royal Engineers33rd Engineer Regiment (EOD) Corps of Royal Engineers35th Engineer Regiment Corps of Royal Engineers42nd Engineer Regiment (Geo) Corps of Royal Engineers101st Engineer Regiment (EOD) Corps of Royal Engineers5th Regiment Royal Artillery12th Regiment Royal Artillery19th Regiment Royal Artillery26th Regiment Royal Artillery32nd Regiment Royal Artillery14th Signal Regiment (Electronic Warfare) Royal Corps of Signals21st Signal Regiment Royal Corps of Signals1st Battalion Welsh GuardsRoyal Scots Borders 1st Battalion Royal Regiment of ScotlandThe Royal Highland Fusiliers 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of ScotlandThe Black Watch 3rd Battalion Royal Regiment of ScotlandThe Highlanders 4th Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland2nd Battalion Princess of Wales Royal Regiment1st Battalion Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment1st Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment2nd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment1st Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment1st Battalion The Mercian Regiment2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment1st Battalion The Royal Welsh2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles2nd Battalion The Rifles1st Regiment Army Air Corps3rd Regiment Army Air Corps4th Regiment Army Air Corps1st Regiment Royal Logistic Corps11th (EOD) Regiment Royal Logistic Corps29th Regiment Royal Logistic Corps1st Medical Regiment Royal Army Medical Corps5th Medical Regiment Royal Army Medical Corps3rd Battalion Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers1st Regiment Royal Military PoliceSpecial Operations Regiment Royal Military Police4th Military Intelligence Battalion Intelligence CorpsHonourable Artillery Company77th BrigadeDefence Human Intelligence UnitSpecialised Infantry GroupRecruiting GroupHeadquarters York GarrisonRoyal Artillery Trials & Development UnitCombat Service Support Trials & Development UnitArmy Directorate for Operations & ContingenciesJoint Helicopter Support Squadron Royal Air Force51 Squadron RAF Regiment63 Squadron RAF Regiment20 Wing RAF RegimentTactical Supply Wing * This information is correct as at 22 January 2018.

Warships

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when a decision will be reached on whether it is necessary to refuel the (a) HMS Victorious, (b) HMS Vigilant and (c) HMS Vengeance.

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the potential cost of the Vanguard-class submarine refuelling operations.

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department has made of the potential cost to (a) Devonport Royal Dockyard, (b) Rolls Royce in Derby and (c) elsewhere for refuelling operations to extend the lifespan of the Vanguard-class submarines until the Dreadnought submarines are built.

Guto Bebb: A decision on whether to refuel HMS Victorious is to be made later this year and therefore estimated costs related to the refuelling operations have yet to be finalised.There are currently no plans to refuel HMS Vigilant or HMS Vengeance.

Department for Work and Pensions

Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to mitigate the effect of welfare sanctions on people's mental health and wellbeing.

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to mitigate any potential effects of welfare sanctions on claimants' mental health and wellbeing.

Alok Sharma: Sanctions are only ever used as a last resort. When considering whether a sanction is appropriate, a Decision Maker will take all the claimant’s individual circumstances, including any health conditions or disabilities and any evidence of good cause, into account before deciding whether a sanction is warranted. We engage at a personal and individual level with all of our claimants and are committed to tailoring the support that we give and any conditionality requirements to the specific circumstances of the individuals.

Social Security Benefits

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of using meaningful activity instead of work as an outcome measure for people receiving welfare payments.

Alok Sharma: The Department has not made such an assessment, as meaningful activities are different for each individual. We work in partnership with our claimants to ensure that their programme of work-related activity is tailored to, and agreed with, the claimant to provide the best possible outcome in each case.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Horses: Databases

Neil Parish: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has been made on establishing a Central Equine Database since the closing of his Department's consultation, Consultation on changes to the identification of equines, published in Aril 2017.

George Eustice: Usability testing has been successfully completed. Defra’s supplier is working closely with Passport Issuing Organisations (PIOs) to prepare and import their historical passport records into the Central Equine Database, with two thirds of PIOs having now provided data. Enforcement bodies including Local Authorities and the Food Standards Agency are able to search records and the database will be fully operational for PIOs by Spring.

Recycling

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much and what proportion of waste was rejected by materials recycling facilities in each of the last three years; and for what reasons that waste was so rejected.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: An estimate of recycling rejects for all local authority collected waste is reported as part of the annual England local authority waste statistics which are published within the datasets (Table 3b for All Local Authority Waste) at: www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/env18-local-authority-collected-waste-annual-results-tables. Data on the rejection of waste at materials recycling facilities (MRF) is not specifically collated and published, so is not readily available. The estimate of all recycling rejections for the last three years is summarised in the table below and will include any rejections recorded at the point of collection, at the MRF or at the gate of the reprocessor. The reasons for the rejection of waste are not recorded by the local authorities.

Waste Disposal

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2017 to Question 115115, what steps he (a) is taking and (b) proposes to take to ensure that in future such waste is used higher up the waste hierarchy.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: All waste operators, including local authorities, are required under the Waste Framework Directive to take account of the waste hierarchy when considering the provision of services around their waste management. The waste hierarchy places prevention at the top as it offers the best outcome for the environment, followed by preparing for reuse, recycling, other recovery (which includes energy from waste) and then disposal. Landfill should only be considered as a last resort. The incineration of waste with energy recovery (also known as energy from waste) plays an important role in diverting waste from landfill but it must not compete with greater prevention, reuse and recycling of waste. England’s recycling rate has increased to 44.9% and the Government has signalled clear ambitions for resource efficiency in the Clean Growth Strategy, Industrial Strategy and 25 Year Environment Plan, which set out an ambition for zero avoidable waste by 2050. We are committed to supporting comprehensive and frequent waste and recycling collections which protect local amenity and ensure that products are recycled as much as possible. The Government is developing a new strategy on resources and waste to be published later this year.

Food: Waste

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has plans to reduce the level of food waste in the commercial sector; and if he will make a statement.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), which receives funding from Defra, launched the Courtauld Commitment 2025 in March 2016. This is an ambitious ten-year voluntary agreement that brings together organisations across the food system to identify priorities, develop solutions and implement changes at scale, both within signatory organisations and by spreading new best practice across the UK. The commitment goes further than ever before with ambitious industry targets to be reached by 2025. One of these is a 20% per capita reduction in food and drink waste arising in the UK. We are also taking action to support the redistribution of unsold edible and nutritious surplus stock food from businesses to individuals in need. WRAP announced, at the end of last year, a new £0.5 million fund for charities who redistribute surplus food from food businesses to those in need.

Plastic Bags: Fees and Charges

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information his Department holds on how much has been raised by retailers since the introduction of the 5p charge for single use carrier bags; and what information his Department holds on the schemes proceeds from that charge have gone to.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Since the charge was introduced in England, retailers have donated proceeds of approximately £95 million towards a variety of good causes covering the arts, education, environment, health, heritage and sports as well as local causes chosen by customers or staff.

Water Treatment: Plastics

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the contribution of waste water treatment plants to tackling the problem of micro plastics.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Environment Agency is currently working with the water industry and leading academics in the field to investigate the quantities, sources and types of micro-plastics entering the environment via sewage and sewage sludge. This work is being carried out as part of the water industry investment planning process and will inform future consideration of measures to reduce micro-plastics at source and the potential for plastic capture technology at water company waste water treatment plants.

Ivory: Sales

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether a timetable has been set for the introduction of an ivory ban in the UK; and when he plans to publish the outcome of his Department’s consultation on banning UK sales of ivory.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Government’s consultation on proposals to ban UK sales of ivory closed on 29 December last year and we received over 70,000 responses. We are currently analysing the information provided and will publish our response to the consultation shortly.

Food: Waste Disposal

Scott Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the amount of food waste which went into landfill (a) nationally and (b) in Cornwall in each of the last three years.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The latest available estimates from the Waste and Resources Action Programme are available at the following link:http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/Estimates_%20in_the_UK_Jan17.pdfThese estimates are not broken down further by region. Other information through permit data for waste sent to landfill would not provide a robust estimate since much of the food waste would be recorded as part of mixed municipal waste rather than just for food waste.

Fly-tipping

Rehman Chishti: What steps his Department is taking to reduce rates of fly-tipping.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The penalties for fly-tipping are on summary conviction: imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or a fine or both; and on conviction on Indictment: imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or a fine or both. The removal in 2015 of the £5,000 cap for maximum fines that magistrate’s courts can impose, means that magistrates can hand down a potentially unlimited fine for a fly-tipping summary offence. In May 2016 we introduced fixed penalty notices of up to £400 for small-scale fly-tipping. This provides local authorities with an alternative to prosecutions and take a more proportionate enforcement response. In 2014 the Sentencing Council introduced new sentencing guidelines for environmental crimes, including fly-tipping. The guidelines were published to ensure a consistent approach to these offences is taken by courts in England and Wales. Requests for further guidance were received by the Sentencing Council from the National Fly Tipping Prevention Group, chaired by Defra, and the Environment Agency. This was due to concerns that the fines were not high enough to reflect the seriousness of the offences committed or to have a deterrent effect, and that there was an inconsistency in fine levels across the country. The guidelines encourage magistrates to make more use of the highest levels of fines for some of the more serious offences that come before the courts. It also helps sentencers more easily pitch a fine that is proportionate to the means of the offender. The Sentencing Council reviewed the effectiveness of the guidelines in 2016. The assessment showed that the level of fines for organisations has risen, but fines for individuals have not seen the same increase. We are looking into this and intend to work with the appropriate people in the court system for a consistent application of the guidelines.

Hill Farming

Jamie Stone: What plans he has to support the livelihood of English and Welsh upland farmers in the event that the UK leaves the EU.

George Eustice: Leaving the EU presents a major opportunity for us to design new policies which are based on public money for public goods. Traditional upland landscapes provide many environmental and cultural benefits which we value. The Government is looking at the implications of proposed policy changes and will consult before the introduction of the Agriculture Bill.

Wales Office

Wales Office: Beverage Containers

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many disposable coffee cups were purchased by his Department in each of the last five years.

Stuart Andrew: None.

HM Treasury

Children: Day Care

Caroline Lucas: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2017 to Question 118344, what estimate he has made of the number of families that receive a lower level of financial support from tax-free childcare than they would have received through childcare vouchers.

Elizabeth Truss: Tax-Free Childcare is fairer and better targeted than the voucher scheme, as it covers a percentage of all childcare costs meaning parents who work longer hours and need more childcare are not disadvantaged. It is not possible to say how many families currently using Tax-free Childcare would be eligible for Employer-support Childcare, because that would depend on whether Employer-supported Childcare is offered by their employer, information which HMRC does not hold. Tax-free childcare does not depend on your employer offering the scheme – one of the reasons why it’s fairer. Whereas currently around 600,000 families are in receipt of childcare vouchers, we estimate that 1.5 million families with childcare costs will be eligible for Tax-free Childcare. This means we estimate that Tax-free Childcare potentially supports 900,000 more families with the cost of childcare.

Department of Health

Image Guided Surgery

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the NHS’ capacity to deliver 24-hour interventional radiology (image-guided surgery) services in each region.

Mr Philip Dunne: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 11 December 2017.The correct answer should have been:

The seven day services self-assessment survey completed by trusts in March 2017 included information on the availability of clinical interventions, including interventional radiology (IR), on a seven day basis for patients admitted to hospital in an emergency. The data showed that 72.30%73.65% of hospital trusts who responded to this survey (109  107out of 148 trusts) stated that IR was available for these patients seven days a week. Information on the twice yearly collection is available on the NHS England website at:https://www.england.nhs.uk/seven-day-hospital-services/progressNational Health Service regions have access to this report and will be able to consider any variation.

Mr Philip Dunne: The seven day services self-assessment survey completed by trusts in March 2017 included information on the availability of clinical interventions, including interventional radiology (IR), on a seven day basis for patients admitted to hospital in an emergency. The data showed that 72.30%73.65% of hospital trusts who responded to this survey (109  107out of 148 trusts) stated that IR was available for these patients seven days a week. Information on the twice yearly collection is available on the NHS England website at:https://www.england.nhs.uk/seven-day-hospital-services/progressNational Health Service regions have access to this report and will be able to consider any variation.